Contents

History

Foundation

In 1921, after his ordination to the priesthood on April 10, Hmk. Panteleimon began to reflect on the difficulty of living the monastic life, and began yearning for monastic silence. He met Ivan Andreevich Kolos, who wanted to become a monk. Together, they decided to earn enough money to buy a plot of land - Hmk. Panteleimon beginning work at Sikorsky Airplane Factory, while Ivan continued working at his parish, where he was the head chanter.

While land for a monastery is purchased in Jordanville, New York, in 1928, Hmk. Panteleimon continued to work until the land was paid off. At this time Fr. Jacob from St. Tikhon's Monastery joined what became Holy Trinity Monastery. In the Spring 1930, having paid off the land, Hmk. Panteleimon quit his job and moved to Jordanville.

Building of the monastery

In 1934, Hmk. Ilya (Gavriliuk), a carpenter, joined the monastery, and assisted in preparing the materials for, and then actually building a house-church and a 16 cell monastic residence. In the same year, Bp. Vitaly (Maximenko) of Detroit was offered the abbacy, but declined. In the Spring of 1935, a church is set up in the small monastic house, and dedicated to the Life-Giving Trinity. On the day after Pentecost of that year, the consecration of the church and the monastery was held, led by Bp. Vitaly (Maximenko). However, tragedy struck. At the end of the Liturgy, smoke was seen at the second floor of the monastic house and, within a few hours, everything had burnt to the ground. Regardless, on the next day, Ivan Kolos was tonsured a monk and given the name Joseph. Accepting their fate, the brethren of the monastery lived under the open sky and, relying on the help of God, undertook to rebuild the monastery. In Autumn, the brotherhood bought a two-story house, which was larger, more comfortable, and of better quality than the original.

By the mid-1940s, Holy Trinity Monastery was able to repay the mortgage for the house, finish a barn for 80 cattle, expand the dairy, gain another 200 acres of land, acquire all their needed farming equipment, and buy a linotype machine with a large, 16-station printing press, including Church Slavonic type, for the monastery press. Their labors completed allowed them, in 1946, the freedom to begin building a grand, golden-cupola'd stone cathedral. A key benefactor of the building of the cathedral, Professor Nikolai Nikolaevich Alexandrov, later joined the brotherhood.

Pochaev Lavra, that had moved from Pochaev to Germany via Serbia, split in 1946. Some of the monks stayed in Germany, to form the Monastery of St. Job of Pochaev, while 14 of the monks moved, via Switzerland, to Holy Trinity Monastery. Hegumen Panteleimon resigned as abbot, and BishopSeraphim, former abbot of Pochaev Lavra, replaces him as abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery. Bishop Seraphim resumed publication of periodical Orthodox Russia (Pravoslavnaya Rus), and named Hmk. Constantine (Zaitsev) editor.

ROCOR in the USA

Bishop Seraphim's abbacy did not last long. In 1948, Abp. Vitaly Maximenko began his abbacy at Holy Trinity Monastery, while Bp Seraphim prepared in the United States the headquarters for ROCOR that was moving from Germany. Having persuading Prince Belosselsky to donate land in Mahopac for the headquarters, Bp. Seraphim dedicated the land as the Kursk-Root Hermitage and gathered a small monastic brotherhood there.

In the meantime, great progress was made at Holy Trinity Monastery. The Church of St. Job of Pochaev, located beneath the cathedral of the monastery, was consecrated, and Holy Trinity Seminary was founded for monastic and priestly aspirants. Abp. Vitaly, in addition to his duties as abbot, was also named rector of the Seminary. The celebration of the consecration was done on November 13/26, and at the same time, Hegumen Panteleimon was elevated to Archimandrite.

Abp. Vitaly could not, however, do everything, and in 1952 Archim. Averky (Taushev) was named rector of Holy Trinity Seminary. In the following year, he was consecrated to the episcopacy at Holy Trinity Monastery. On April 2, 1960, Abp. Vitaly reposed, ending his twelve-years as abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery. Forty days later, on May 12, Bp. Averky was named abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery.

Averky's abbacy

In 1974, Holy Trinity Monastery had the honor of hosting the Third All-Diaspora Council. Two years later, in April, Abp. Averky reposes and was succeeded by Abp. Laurus.